


The Watch

by Nemesis (ThetaSigma), ThetaSigma



Series: Bertie Meets Aliens [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005), Jeeves & Wooster
Genre: Crossover, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-27
Updated: 2012-05-27
Packaged: 2017-11-06 03:28:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/414217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThetaSigma/pseuds/Nemesis, https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThetaSigma/pseuds/ThetaSigma
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bertie always wondered about that watch of Jeeves'. There's a lot of odd stuff about that watch, and Bertie can't seem to stay away. Meanwhile, Jeeves seems not to know it's there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Watch

One day Bertie notices an odd watch he's never seen before, and he's not quite sure what to make of it. It has intricate designs on it, and looks completely unfamiliar. Jeeves doesn't seem to notice it most of the time, and Bertie thinks he might be going mad, because it's like the watch is whispering to him. Half-words and they make no sense, either. 

But Bertie knows watches don't whisper and he wonders just what Bingo put in his drink if Jeeves' old, broken watch is whispering at him. He puts it back down and goes to bed instead, wondering how hung-over he’ll be in the morning.

He makes the mistake of opening it once.

A bright light escapes from it. He snaps it shut quickly, frightened, and puts it back on the mantle and resolves to forget about it.

Jeeves dusts it regularly, along with everything else Bertie keeps on the mantle, but he never mentions it. Bertie wonders sometimes if Jeeves is even really aware of the watch being there. It seems like the kind of thing Jeeves _would_ bring up – “Sir, is there any reason you are keeping your pocket watch on the mantle instead of in your pocket?” – but he never does.

Bertie never mentions it – what if it had been the drink? What if he's going mad? Watches don't whisper and bright lights don't come out of them, and yet he knows that it _had_ happened. He wonders what it is and where it comes from, what new science (magic?) could make watches do such strange things.

Some nights, when Jeeves is snoring quietly in the bed next to him, Bertie gets up and slips out, wandering around aimlessly, but he always returns to the watch, his hand just hovering over it.

The whispers are faint that way, and the words still make no sense – what, for example, is a TARDIS? – and Bertie wonders what Jeeves is hiding.

 

Jeeves notices something’s off with Bertie lately. He doesn’t know what it is, and he’s not sure he wants to ask. But he’s not sleeping every night Bertie wanders aimlessly around the flat. He lies in bed and wonders, and in the silence of the night, he almost dreams. It’s too vivid, too real, too like memory. What he remembers… it’s so strange, so impossible. He never talks about it.

One night, Jeeves follows Bertie quietly, curious what exactly Bertie does when he gets up.

And as Bertie handles the watch, it calls to Jeeves. He can almost hear it across the room. The next morning, he picks it up and hears it properly, wonders how he could've forgotten about this.

He opens it, and the light envelops him and changes him, and by the time Bertie has woken up, Jeeves is a Timelord.

 

He no longer wants to be called Jeeves. Apparently, he no longer _is_ Jeeves. His lover’s gone, Bertie thinks sourly. He’s not sure what to make of this new man. He looks just like Jeeves, the same face, the same broad shoulders, the same strong hands, but he doesn’t speak like Jeeves and he doesn’t want the same things Jeeves did. He doesn’t even stand like Jeeves.

This man wants to leave. Wants to travel again. Bertie smiles a little bit. That does sound like Jeeves – Jeeves did so like those cruises. Bertie wonders if that’s what this… _alien_ has in mind, but it soon turns out that it’s something else entirely.

“Time and space?” Bertie asks weakly. “You’re travelling through time and space?”

The man with Jeeves’ face nods. “I did before I was Jeeves.”

Bertie turns away. There’s a picture of Jeeves on the wall, and Bertie nearly sobs. “Why?” he manages.

“Why what?”

“Why did you become Jeeves at all?”

The man considers for a long time. Bertie turns back to look at him. “I’m not sure I quite remember,” the man says finally. He sighs. “I did something very stupid and very arrogant, and now…” he spreads his arms. “I guess something – someone – told me I should forget that life for a while.”

“What happened to Jeeves?”

“He’s in here somewhere.”

“Could you become him again?”

The man nods. “But I won’t. I like being me.” 

“Are you leaving now?”

“You could come with me, if you like.”

Bertie considers that. He’d be leaving a lot behind – family and friends, people he loves and cares about – but the most important person in his life is completely gone, and yet this new man still seems to want him in his life.

“I think I’d like that.” He pauses for a moment. “Sorry, what did you say your name really was?”

The man who isn’t Jeeves anymore looks back. “The Doctor.”


End file.
